About blend modes (Flash Professional only) 239
About blend modes (Flash Professional
only)
Blend modes let you create composite images. Compositing is the process of varying the
transparency or color interaction of two or more overlapping objects. Blending lets you create
unique effects by blending the colors in overlapping movie clips.
A blending mode contains these elements:
Blend color is the color applied to the blend mode.
Opacity is the degree of transparency applied to the blend mode.
Base color is the color of pixels underneath the blend color.
Result color is the result of the blend’s effect on the base color.
Blend modes in Flash
Since blend modes depend on both the color of the object you’re applying the blend to and
the underlying color, you must experiment with different colors to see what the result will be.
Macromedia recommends that you experiment with the different blend modes to achieve the
effect you want.
Flash provides the following blend modes:
Normal applies color normally, with no interaction with the base colors.
Layer lets you stack movie clips on top of each other without affecting their color.
Darken replaces only the areas that are lighter than the blend color. Areas darker than the
blend color don’t change.
Multiply multiplies the base color by the blend color, resulting in darker colors.
Lighten replaces only pixels that are darker than the blend color. Areas lighter than the blend
color don’t change.
Screen multiplies the inverse of the blend color by the base color, resulting in a bleaching
effect.
Overlay multiplies or screens the colors, depending on the base colors.
Hard light multiplies or screens the colors, depending on the blend mode color. The effect is
similar to shining a spot light on the object.
Difference subtracts either the blend color from the base color or the base color from
the blend color, depending on which has the greater brightness value. The effect is similar to a
color negative.